White River A Blue Way. Not What You Think!

[Brian Wise]

It will be interesting to see what happens in Conn. where the designation is in tact. I'd like to see if they get improvement grants, if the river-way improves, if tourism increases and if the various agencies become more efficient working together. I'd also like to see if UN forces invade our friends in New England and claim the watershed for the rest of the world. Haha.

EXACTLY!!

[Quillback]

Biggest mistake I see the proponents making was not bothering to warn or educate the public. Some farmer picks up his Sunday paper and sees his farm is now in a "Blueway". That's not the way you want to let folks know about something like this. From one of the links above, it appears that the creators of this didn't even let the up river conservation groups in on this until it was announced. You have to let people in the effected area in on things beforehand and get their buyoff.

[Al Agnew]

Biggest mistake I see the proponents making was not bothering to warn or educate the public. Some farmer picks up his Sunday paper and sees his farm is now in a "Blueway". That's not the way you want to let folks know about something like this. From one of the links above, it appears that the creators of this didn't even let the up river conservation groups in on this until it was announced. You have to let people in the effected area in on things beforehand and get their buyoff.

I agree with that. I think sometimes people get so locked in thinking something is self-evidently terrific that they don't even think that other people might have some questions about it. A much better education/PR campaign would have probably helped a lot here.

[mwkojack]

I don't understand this whole blue way agenda 21 thing completely and that's what has me scared. I own a couple feet of river frontage and regulations put in place to help prevent erosion and sedimentary fill is one thing. But preventing me from using 180ft from stream edge as defined by a politician or government agency is basically stealing land away from me. This is land that I've worked hard to purchase and make nice And to do it without notifying me. I just found out about this agenda 5 days ago from a friend. This is sneaky and anytime a government is trying to be sneaky nothing good comes from it.

[Coldspring]

if you haven't heard, the Blueway is no more. Family favorite picnic and smimming holes and country church's baptismal holes are saved.

[mwkojack]

Really. That's great news for me. I thought the issue wasnt going to be decided until July 6th. Well. Here's hoping to bureaucrats doing a better job of informing the public and landowners in the future before they try to push something through.

[Al Agnew]

Really. That's great news for me. I thought the issue wasnt going to be decided until July 6th. Well. Here's hoping to bureaucrats doing a better job of informing the public and landowners in the future before they try to push something through.

Dang it...there was NO way that was going to happen. It was a smokescreen put up by the Farm Bureau and property rights people to scare you. They took one proposed regulation for a specific area that was already mostly in public ownership and told everybody that was going to be the rule everywhere in the White River watershed. IT WASN'T TRUE. There was NO regulatory authority granted or even proposed to enforce any such regulation (or any other regulation), and no authority proposed to MAKE any such regulation. You bought into the scare tactics without even looking into it yourself. There is no "agenda", UN or otherwise, and no way that ANY politician in America would dare to allow such an agenda to actually become reality.

[bfishn]

Sometimes the gullibility of people still amazes me.

It's especially amazing at a time when they claim to trust no one... 'cept maybe grammy and the preacher... and a handful of wack-job bloggers and chain email spammers... and maybe that guy at the end of the bar with the tin foil hat.

...And the willful ignorance....

And then there's that.

[skeeter]

As evidenced by a few of the foregoing posts, the libs lost a round.....now let the name calling commence like it always does as they attempt to demonize anyone with a differing opinion.

They are so predictable and unable to compromise or recognize and value another's opinion it's hilarious. Their way or the highway !

[Ham]

Sometimes the gullibility of people still amazes me. And the willful ignorance saddens me.

There's plenty of that on both sides of the fence. Lot's of people continue to trust the government and other authorities to monitor and control things despite plenty of day to day experiences that show how inefficient and wrong headed bureaucracies can be. Is it better to blindly trust that smart people are going to right thing for me and for the environment than to be concerned about an ill defined organization with nebulous goals and uncertain powers? Chide people from your high horse about how they are being manipulated by scare tactics and right bloggers, but this was whole deal was poorly organized and thought out from the start and maybe that also should raise concerns about how well it would be run down the line.

What saddens me is that so often people have to insult and demean those that dare disagree.